June 10, 2020
At the Lawrence City Commission meeting on Tuesday, June 9, all five Lawrence City Commissioners approved authorizing the City Manager to enter into a Direct Renewable Participation Service Agreement with Evergy. Through the agreement, the City will purchase 8 megawatts of renewable energy under Evergy’s Direct Renewable Participation Service tariff. This means the City is sourcing about 98% of its energy from wind for the next 20 years, beginning in 2021.
In March 2020, the Commission adopted ordinance no. 9744, which set ambitious goals for the City’s adoption of clean, renewable energy sources. Through the agreement with Evergy, the City will essentially be meeting the first of the goals in this ordinance, which is to have 100% clean, renewable energy for electricity in municipal operations by 2025.
“Achieving our first goal for clean, renewable energy for City operations a full four years ahead of schedule is a huge achievement and will have a dramatic impact on our City’s greenhouse gas emissions profile,” said Jasmin Moore, Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability Director. “Sustainability is a value of the City of Lawrence, and this partnership provides a chance for us to put our values into practice and lead by example.”
Entering into this agreement is projected to save the City approximately $100,000 per year on our energy bills. The agreement would lock the City into a fuel charge rate of no more than $0.018/kWh, which is less than we have been charged on average for the last five years ($0.0207).
Previously, the City engaged Black & Veatch to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the Direct Renewable Participation Service Agreement offered by Westar Energy (now Evergy) to the City in the fall of 2018. The report found that subscribing to the amount of 8 megawatts would provide the optimal savings for the City.
In addition to its goals for clean, renewable energy for municipal operations, ordinance no. 9744 established a goal of 100% clean, renewable energy for electricity community-wide by 2035. Residents interested in renewable energy for their household can subscribe through Evergy. Through their monthly subscription, you can offset a portion of your annual energy use (up to 100%) with solar energy from our local solar array.
Contact: Jasmin Moore, Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability Director, jamoore@lawrenceks.org | (785) 330-2873